Never assume anything an NBA legend says is actually true. Whether it’s Robert Horry’s bullshit claim that Phil Jackson’s Bulls never double teamed. Or John Stockton’s made-up story about Larry Bird calling his shot on a 43 point game. Or Kenny Smith saying the ‘95 Bulls would have been too small for the equally small ‘95 Rockets. The legend will probably sound extremely confident. But don’t be a sucker. And especially avoid propagating that folklore to the world on social media.

That goes double for you Internet hypemen. You Cyber Flavs. You Old School Stans. Just because the meme looks slick or the info is being pumped by Sport Illustrated or ESPN or whoever, never assume the former great’s claim is actual information. And if a civilian dares to question your hero’s claims, remember to pump the brakes before you call the skeptic “a casual,” only to later find out that you're the one who has no idea what they’re talking about. Most of this stuff can be fact checked in minutes. And it’s 50/50 whether the all-time great is telling the truth. These are not objective individuals. They tend to have a lots of free time and their legacies are very, very important to them (God help us when Kevin Durant retires.)

Isiah Thomas is an all-time great. He was on the Top 50 of All-Time list the NBA put out back in ‘96. And he’s on anyone with half a brain’s Top 50 now. In May 2020, ESPN had him at #31 all time, arguably a bit low. Isiah was a bad man, one of the greatest point guards ever and is currently underrated as hell. But none of this means you should believe a word he says when he’s discussing his place in NBA history.

For example, Isiah said Jordan was never his competition—Bird and Magic were. That's true for the period before Detroit broke through. Bird and Magic were the bosses Zeke had to get past to level up and hold the trophy in ’89 and ‘90. But what about the years after that? When the Bulls three-peated? Isiah says he “basically had career ending wrist surgery” in ’91, right before the reign of Jordan and the Bulls began. But he basically played 3 more seasons. And he was an All-Star for two of them—fan vote sure, but an uncontroversial pick—before an achilles tear actually ended his career in 1994.

There’s also this narrative that the Bad Boys were super old when the Bulls beat them in in ’91. Well, they weren't young. But were they as geriatric as some people say? Here are the ages of the Piston’s rotation guys at the end of the ’91 Eastern Conference Finals.

• Isiah – age 30, 10th season

• Aguirre – age 31, 11th season

• Dumars – age 28 (turned 28 during the ECF), 6th season

• Rodman – age 30, 5th season

• Laimbeer age 34, 12th season (fun fact-played a season in Italy before his NBA debut with the Cavs in ‘80)

• Salley – age 27, 5th season

• Vinnie Johnson – age 34, 13th season

• James Edwards age 35 14th season (ok, Buddha was old.)

Btw, you know how old Jordan was when they beat they the Pistons in ’91 en route to championship #1 of 6? He was damn near pushin' 30 at age 28.

Now back to Isiah for a claim that's complete bullshit. It was this tweet,

The World reacted. The most common reaction was “What about Kobe? Who won in ’09 and ’10 with Pau Gasol as his best teammate? You’re not saying Pau is Top 50 are you?” (for what it’s worth, ESPN’s May 2020 list had Pau at #65).

Another reaction: Ok, but you could also make the case that Hakeem went back to back w/o a top 50 teammate (he won the 2nd with Clyde Drexler and ESPN”s top 100 put Drexler at #57).

Isiah stayed silent. But his cyber Flavs clarified on his behalf. Isiah wasn’t talking about anyone’s actual present-day top 50 list. He was referring to the NBA Top 50 at 50 list that came out waaaaaaaaay back in 1996. As long as you went by that list, then his tweet was true.

Except it wasn’t.

Fact: George Mikan is on the 50 at 50. Fact: George Mikan won back-to-backs in ’49 and ’50 and 3-peated from ’52 – ’54. Fact: George Mikan didn’t have a Top 50 teammate on the 50 at 50 list.

The cyber Flavs didn’t really know what to do with that. Other than to shrug and imply Mikan shouldn’t count. Maybe, maybe not. But he’s definitely on the list!

You know who else is on the list? Shaq. He 3-peated from ’00 thru ’02. Sure, he had Kobe, who is obviously a Top 50 all-timer if we're going by an actual present-day Top 50. But remember, Isiah Stans said this was about the 50 at 50 list from 1996 and Kobe ain't on that. So let it be known. Shaq, Mikan, and Isiah are the only 3 players on the Top 50 at 50 that came out 25 long ass years ago who won back to back championships without another guy on that list. Tweet that out and make the t-shirts. I’ll even buy one if you can actually get all those words on the front. Guessing Isiah won’t be making that purchase though.